Obama To Offer New “Oil Manipulation” Plan

He also recommends you check your tire pressure to reduce your gas usage

(USA Today) President Obama, facing political problems over high gas prices, will announce a plan today “to increase oversight and crack down on manipulation in oil markets,” the White House announced.

“At a time when American consumers are feeling pain at the pump, it is critically important to ensure that illegal manipulation, fraud and market rigging are not contributing to gas price increases,” said the announcement.

Obama, along with Attorney General Eric Holder, is scheduled to discuss the plan at 11:10 a.m.

See? It’s someone else’s fault, can’t possibly have anything to do with Obama’s policies, which have effectively reduced drilling on federal property and off America’s shores. Most investigations showed very little manipulation in prices, though there are always a few bad players in every economic sector. Good thing no one is trying to manipulate the prices in alternative energy, such as giving massive amounts of capital to solar companies.

The $52 million request to Congress is designed to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, and increase penalties for manipulation of those markets.

Wait, wait, wait: Obama plans to blow $52 million more taxpayer dollars to make it appear as if he is Doing Something to prop up his election campaign? He must know that the Republican controlled House will say “hell, no”, which will give Obama some talking points to deflect attention away from his malfeasance.

“How many scapegoats must we go through before the President agrees to unlock America’s supply of energy resources?,” (John Boehner spokesman Brendan) Buck said. “Americans are looking for solutions, but it’s pretty clear the President is just looking for political cover.”

You can bet if a Republican was president, Democrats would blame that person, much like the solely blamed Bush when gas prices spiked.

What this would also do, if passed, would be to increase the role of the Central Government in the market and the oil company business, which sounds eerily like….socialism.